Booker: I’m not afraid of law-abiding gun owners

posted at 10:31 am on December 24, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Allahpundit included a portion of this argument from Cory Booker in last night’s QOTD, but the video is worth watching at more length. The mayor of Newark and prospective US Senate candidate grabbed the panel’s attention by asking, “I don’t know if anybody here has seen someone shot. I have.” In all of the shootings in his city, Booker says, only one was perpetrated by “a law-abiding citizen who is mentally stable and who bought a gun.” “I’m not afraid of law abiding citizens who buy a gun,” Booker declared, and called the entire issue “a false debate” (via JWF and Instapundit):

The Newark Star-Ledger followed up with a report on Booker’s surprising response, including his assertion that going after the guns of law-abiding citizens is the wrong approach:

Booker pushed for stronger background checks on people looking to purchase guns and said a key way to curb gun violence is to shut down secondary markets.

“I’m not afraid of law-abiding citizens who buy a gun,” he said. “Buy the guns you want. What the problem is in America right now is that a terrorist person who is on the no-fly list could go into the secondary market today and buy a weapon.”

“Listen to me, the people dying in Chicago, the people dying in Newark are not being done with law-abiding gun owners,” Booker continued. “We do not need to go after the guns. A law-abiding mentally stable American, that’s not America’s problem.”

“We trace the weapons that come into my city,” the mayor added. “And when residents look to me and they say, ‘Stop the carnage, Cory,’ what I say is with the guns we’re tracing, I have no power to stop them coming into my city as (Chicago Mayor) Rahm (Emanuel) does them coming into Chicago. They’re coming from places that have free secondary markets where criminals and gun runners so easily buy weapons and pump them into communities like mine where it is easy for a person who is a criminal to get their hands on a gun.”

Most people I know don’t have an issue with background checks for gun purchases, either. I went through that for my carry permit, which in this state allows me to buy a firearm over the counter from a licensed dealer. I haven’t ever heard any gun-rights organization oppose background checks, although they have grumbled about waiting periods. Controls in “secondary markets” are a fair topic for debate, but sales at gun shows and by mail-order have to abide by the same laws as dealers for background checks; in fact, sales by mail must be concluded through a federally-licensed dealer, who conducts the already-required background checks. I’m assuming Booker means person-to-person sales and other transactions that are already below the radar and difficult to regulate, but I’m willing to hear him out.

But here’s the question: would any of that have stopped the Newtown Shooting? Aurora? Tucson? There may be room to argue that the restrictions on secondary markets need to be tightened to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals — but if it’s framed in the context of these events, then it is a false debate.

Blowback

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What’s not clear is which foothold would be usable in a class-action lawsuit by the permit holders.

The FIA act is intended to keep government transparent in its action.

What is not clear is the degree to which personal information of PRIVATE CITIZENS who are forced, by statute, to interact with the government and divulge their personal info at gunpoint, no pun intended, in order to exercise their Second-Amendment rights, is fair game.

It’s time to review the FIA laws when it comes to revealing identifying info of citizens who do not want to interact with the government, but are forced to, due to compulsory statutory infringement of their right to bear arms….

The gun grabbers can’t be happy with this info release, because it just convinced a lot of people like me never to ask permission of my government to bear concelaed arms.

ROTFLMAO…no, just used to be a demolitions contractor… I also think it is very important that people not have any false impressions when it comes to things like gun safes. Having a gun safe very often lures the individual with the gun safe into a sense of false security and complacency.

Please don’t get the misunderstanding that I am trying to dissuade people from having a gun safe, I am not. Gun safes serve a very specific and important function. I just feel it is very important that people know what that function is and what it is not.

Every responsible gun owner should have a gun safe, but, gun safes, like locks are designed to keep the honest honest. The primary purpose of a gun safe, is to keep children and other members of your own household who are not authorized to have or use your firearm from obtaining access to that firearm.

Now everyone knows where the LEGAL GUNS are kept, a valuable piece of information for criminals. Why don’t you do something helpful, like trying to find out where the ILLEGAL GUNS are kept? That would be helpful to the non-criminal population.

Every responsible gun owner should have a gun safe, but, gun safes, like locks are designed to keep the honest honest. The primary purpose of a gun safe, is to keep children and other members of your own household who are not authorized to have or use your firearm from obtaining access to that firearm.

Locks and gun safes only slow down determined criminals.

SWalker on December 24, 2012 at 2:15 PM

This is why I think that classroom gun safes are a solid compromise option that would actually have a chance of getting some lib support.

I took a lot of abuse the other day for this, but I would rather have half a loaf, when it comes to having no more deaths like Victoia Soto, than insist on the full loaf and get none due to cloudy liberal thinking.

I don’t give a damn about the legality of publishing the names and addresses of the legal permit holders, that isn’t the point. the godless left is using intimidation against the law abiding citizens. they need to be punished

While i guess it might seem a tad unnerving at first, I think ultimately I’d wear it as a badge of honor (being outed as a registered gun owner)….Granted, it may spur someone to break into your home to steal the gun, but I think far more likely it will persuade bad guys to break into your neighbors that don’t have guns…

Why thank you sir, compliment accepted. ;) (I’ve been doing that guitar playing thing for a couple (read 30+ years here) of years now, and find it an exceptional way of relaxing) ;)

SWalker on December 24, 2012 at 11:21 AM

So I’ve read. I’m still trying to figure out what band you were in though. I’m a classic rock fan from way back. Even my youngest has mostly classic rock on her ipod and has turned many of her friends into fans. The first day of school she wore a BOC shirt and the only one who knew who they were was her social studies teach.

Thats nice Mr. Booker. How is it that Newark NJ’s crime problem is my problem? Perhaps you ought to look to the culture in your fair city first before banning tools and looking to take away my rights.

It appears a crazy guy in NY state just murdered two firefighters and a cop, an ex-felon (for murder no less). So much for strict gun laws in NY state. Oh, but lets blame all the guns in NYC, NJ, and Chicago on “secondary markets”. Yet the federal government will let guns walk to drug cartels in Mexico and give guns to rebels in Libya and now Syria.

On the CCW info release, the press tried that in Oregon, Sheriffs and the public put a stop to it.

It appears a crazy guy in NY state just murdered two firefighters and a cop, an ex-felon (for murder no less). So much for strict gun laws in NY state. Oh, but lets blame all the guns in NYC, NJ, and Chicago on “secondary markets”. Yet the federal government will let guns walk to drug cartels in Mexico and give guns to rebels in Libya and now Syria.

oryguncon on December 24, 2012 at 3:23 PM

I saw that. Too bad Chuck schumer is so busy minding people’s business in other states. The perp spent 18 years in prison for killing his grandmother, been on parole for 8 years, reads the 24/7 coverage on Newtown and says to himself, “Hey, why not me?” I would like to know what weaponry he used. Hi cap mags had nothing to do with this one.

Today we had another killing in upstate new York.A criminal set a fire and then open fire on the fireman killing 2 and wounding 2.The first words out of the news media mouth.Was he using a assault weapon?If we had a gun band would this have happen?Maybe or maybe not.Then we find out this person a hard core criminal.A long list of violent crimes ending with the violent death by his hands of his grand mother some time in the eighties.Sometime later he was paroled. WHY IN GOD NAME WAS HE LET OUT??? One thing is for damn sure if he was still in jail for the murder these fireman would still be alive.All of you liberal politician in New York.Keep your murders lock up before you start running your mouths about take my second amendments rights away.

Teachers have in loco parentis responsibility, and are the last line of defense in the classroom.

Do they trust the teacher enough to be a last-ditch firewall to save their kids’ lives?

Libs, feel free to discuss.

cane_loader on December 24, 2012 at 2:35 PM

WRONG-O, cane_loader, teacher have in loco parentis POWER. Power to compel and indoctrinate and shame. They don’t want the responsibility or actually teaching kids the necesary basics or history or civics, or rational responsibility about anything. Thus the ‘zero tolerance’ policies.

“They’re coming from places that have free secondary markets where criminals and gun runners Eric Holder so easily buy weapons and pump them into communities like mine where it is easy for a person who is a criminal to get their hands on a gun.”

Come in my house, break in – and you will meet a gun. Bottom line. I have a 12 guage Mossberg Assault, and two Kimber’s – a Golden Eagle and a ProCarry – You WILL meet one. Does NOT mean I am going to a school, a theatre, a mall – whatever – looking for someone to shoot. These MORONS on the Left have GOT to learn – a criminal is a criminal. Making the possession of a gun, a magazine, a HOLSTER illegal – will NOT stop a criminal – PERIOD!

Booker is correct. It’s not really a GUN control problem, it’s a CRIMINAL control problem.

Chicago had 190+ shootings in a month. The authorities there know if they arrested, tried and locked up about 100 particular gang members – all of whom have been arrested for violent crimes with weapons before, many MULTIPLE TIMES – the shooting rate in that city would plummet.

BUT THEY’LL NEVER DO THAT. Specifically TARGETING gang members is racist, and liberal cities will NEVER do it. So they will continue the insane revolving-door policies that put violent criminals back on the street fast.

LIBERALS BUILT THIS BROKEN JUSTICE SYSTEM. But they don’t want any BLAME for the results of that system being broken. So they have become masters of scape-goating by constantly bringing up the GUN when some crook or crazy person they failed to lock up kills people.

They CAN’T allow the discussion to be about their broken system. They defend that system. They built it. They own it. It’a a compassionate system. IT’S THE BEST SYSTEM. So they can’t let you wingnutz criticize it for putting some violent criminal out there to commit further violent crimes.

What better way to keep the subject off THEIR failures than by insisting the discussion focus on that wingut fixation: GUNS. How dare you! How dare you still stand up for the 2nd Amendment after some crook they let walk kills more people!

They craftily and artfully get away with doing this every single time. The bureaucrats that created the broken justice system and the MSM deliberately seek to make the national conversation about something that reflects badly on the RIGHT, not the Left. And that means the national conversation MUST be about guns, not criminals or crazies.

Here’s a real life example of a broken justice system: I lived in the Virgin Islands for 7 years. One of my friends there had a relative who was a cop that was killed in a shooting this year.

Officer Colvin George died in a Miami, Fla., hospital Saturday morning from injuries sustained in a May by a suspect who was killed in the shoot out, according to the local newspaper The St. Croix Source.

Georges and fellow officer Aaron Hodge both came under fire at a car wash on St. Thomas where a fatal shooting had occurred just before the May 26 attack that injured the two officers, according to the paper. Hodge was released a few days after the incident while Georges was gravely injured, paralyzed from the neck down and airlifted to Florida after the shooting.

The reported shooter in the incident had been arrested in April with crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana all packaged for sale. The suspect also had a handgun.

The officer, Colvin George, was shot by a criminal who had just been arrested the previous month with drugs and a handgun. In April this crook was caught with a weapon. In May he shot Colvin Georges and another officer.

What kind of a system lets a dangerous drug dealer walk in less than a month? A broken one!

And note this: they handgun the guy was caught with in April WASN’T the same one he had in May. He simply went out and got himself ANOTHER gun.

That’s what they are doing in places like Chicago. They catch these guys with guns, take the guns away, let them go after a brief time, and the first thing these guys do is go get themselves another gun.

I can’t help but wonder how many times in places like Chicago or the USVI has the SAME CRIMINAL had multiple GUNS taken off of him at various arrests?

Rather than examine what THEY are doing that is not working, the Liberal bureaucrats look for a SCAPEGOAT to relentlessly ATTACK to keep attention OFF of their failures.

WHY do they get away with it? WHY does this clever – and insidious – strategy ALWAYS work?

Ed,
You, Booker and all of us who value the Second Amendment are right–The problem isn’t gun-ownership by law-abiding citizens, it’s criminality and mental illness. We can’t solve either of those problems. The best we can do with criminals is to impose very lengthy prison terms without parole for people committing violent crimes with guns. We have no meaningful, constitutional way to prevent or control “mental illness.” If we were to have an effective means of preventing mental illness, the Progressive/Socialist/Leftist movement would disappear and Obama wouldn’t have even been elected. It’s the Progressivives/Socialists/Collectivists and similarly totalitarian philosphies that specialize in “re-education” to remedy what they deem “mental illness.” But the real mental illness is the anti-liberty/anti-individuality philosophy that makes large numbers of people prefer having someone else take care of them and thus enables small number of elites willing to oblige the large number of people seeking, indeed, craving, such “care.”

Today we had another killing in upstate new York.A criminal set a fire and then open fire on the fireman killing 2 and wounding 2.The first words out of the news media mouth.Was he using a assault weapon?If we had a gun band would this have happen?Maybe or maybe not.Then we find out this person a hard core criminal.A long list of violent crimes ending with the violent death by his hands of his grand mother some time in the eighties.Sometime later he was paroled. WHY IN GOD NAME WAS HE LET OUT??? One thing is for damn sure if he was still in jail for the murder these fireman would still be alive.All of you liberal politician in New York.Keep your murders lock up before you start running your mouths about take my second amendments rights away.

Today we had another killing in upstate new York.A criminal set a fire and then open fire on the fireman killing 2 and wounding 2.The first words out of the news media mouth.Was he using a assault weapon?If we had a gun band would this have happen?Maybe or maybe not.Then we find out this person a hard core criminal.A long list of violent crimes ending with the violent death by his hands of his grand mother some time in the eighties.Sometime later he was paroled. WHY IN GOD NAME WAS HE LET OUT??? One thing is for damn sure if he was still in jail for the murder these fireman would still be alive.All of you liberal politician in New York.Keep your murders lock up before you start running your mouths about take my second amendments rights away.

logman1 on December 24, 2012 at 4:14 PM

He was a FELON, who was prohibited from coming into contact with firearms.

We know that gun free zones don’t work – they only serve to disarm the innocent in the face of evil.

We know that prohibiting private sale doesn’t work – criminals by definition don’t obey the law so it won’t stop them from being armed – just like banning drugs

We know that registration doesn’t work – did I mention that criminals don’t obey the law, registration only means the government has a real handy way of denying innocent people a means of self defense, not to mention making people feel like subject and not citizens.

We know that Confiscation won’t work again because criminals don’t obey the law and they will just find a way to steal a gun from the government, law enforcement or simply make a gun even IF you were able to get every gun in private hands

We know that criminals don’t buy guns on the open market – so prohibiting private sales won’t work.
We know that criminals don’t register their guns – so registering them won’t work
And we know that criminals won’t have their guns confiscated.

We’ve seen this movie a few times before – after a horrific act of violence the ever so helpful government looks to grab more power by controlling how and when you can buy a gun. All the while solemnly promising it won’t lead to registration.

Then after those measures don’t work – as it always the case – the ever so helpful government grabs even more power by breaking their solemn promise that the first item won’t lead to registration by requiring everyone to get the governments permission to have a gun – registration. All the while solemnly promising it won’t lead to confiscation

Then after those measures don’t work – as it always the case – the ever so helpful government grabs even more power by breaking their solemn promise by confiscating everyone (except the criminals guns)

Then after those measures don’t work – as it always the case – the ever so helpful government….. doesn’t do anything because there are no more guns to grab…. Then moves on to knives

But even if by some miracle, you Statists were to magically accomplish those tasks, the criminals could still MANUFACTURE guns and ammunition.

Correct. It requires a special self-delusion to tow the liberal line on gun control. Booker mistakenly thinks that plain-speech will make him a better candidate. But it makes him a poorer Democrat.
This may be why, being ill themselves, leftists cannot recognize illness in those around them who will pick up a gun and act out their inner troubles.

I’m personally not against person to person sales being conducted through an FFL dealer. I’ve done it many times through the mail. I have a local dealer, a regular guy that conducts the transactions at his home and receives a small fee for providing the service. Usually takes about 5 minutes since I have concealed carry permit and have already been through the background check, printed and the rest. If this would help keeps the wolves at bay, it would be a very small concession to make.